Republic of the Philippines

AURORA STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Baler, Aurora

As a nation we have the right to decide our own affairs, to mould our own future. This
does not pose any danger to anybody. Our nation is fully aware of the responsibility for
its own fate in the complicated situation of the contemporary world.

Lech Walesa
 Republic of the Philippines
AURORA STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
Baler, Aurora
MODULE 10: PRINCIPLES ON INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT LAW
“Try to leave the Earth a better place than when you arrived.”
Sidney Sheldon

Specific Lesson Objectives:

At the end of this lesson, the students will be able to:
1. understand the governing principles of international economic law; and
2. apply these principles to the laws and cases in the Philippines.

DISCUSSION:
INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
❖ The branch of public international law comprises those substantive, procedural, and
institutional rules that have the protection of the environment as their primary objective.
❖ Environment – understood as encompassing both the creatures and products of the natural
world and those of human civilization (Sands & Philippe, 2003).

ESSENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL PRINCIPLES

❖ Principle of Good Neighborliness
✓ The sovereign right to exploit their resources under their environmental policies and the
responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage
to the environment of other states or areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction (1972
Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment, Principle 21).

❖ Precautionary Approach/Principle
✓ When there is a lack of complete scientific certainty in establishing a causal link between
human activity and environmental effect, the court shall apply the precautionary principle of
resolving the case before it (1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development,
Principle 15).

❖ Polluter Pays Principle

✓ National authorities should endeavor to promote the internalization of environmental costs
and the use of economic instruments, taking into account the approach that the polluter
should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution with due regard to the public interest and
without distorting international trade and investment (1992 Rio Declaration on Environment
and Development, Principle 16).

❖ Principle of Sustainable Development

✓ It is a development that meets the person's needs without compromising the future
generation's ability to meet their own needs (Our Common Future, UN Document A/42/427).

❖ Environment Impact Assessment Principle

 Republic of the Philippines
AURORA STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
Baler, Aurora
✓ As a national instrument shall be undertaken for proposed activities that are likely to have
a significant adverse impact on the environment and are subject to a decision of a competent
national authority (1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Principle 17).

❖ Principle of Integrational Equity

✓ Man bears a solemn responsibility to protect and improve the environment for present and
future generations (1972 Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment, Principle 1).

❖ Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibility

✓ Because developed states have contributed disproportionately to global environmental
degradation and command greater financial and technological resources, those states have a
special responsibility in shouldering the burden of pursuing global sustainable development
(Sarmiento, 2009).

❖ Principle of Non-discrimination
✓ When addressing pollution origination within the state, each state should ensure that its
environmental protection regime does not discriminate between pollution affecting the state
and pollution affecting other states (Sarmiento, 2009).

ASSESSMENT TASK:
Make a brief critique of the 2015 Paris Convention:
1. What is the 2015 Paris Convention all about?
2. Give at least five (5) important points.
3. Why is the Paris Convention important? Explain.
4. What are the costs of the Paris Convention?
5. Prior to signing the Paris Convention, President Rodrigo Duterte, at first, was vocally
hesitant to sigh the same. Explain his reasons.
6. Do you agree with him or not? Explain.